Learning new tricks

I have an 11 year old dog who never ceases to learn new tricks. and he is joyous about it, revels in it, and with each new trick he learns, he loses at least 3 months. If it weren't for the distinguished grey around the muzzle, you'd think he was, well 7 years old. sigh.

I guess the point of this little entry is that it's a whole helluva lot easier to learn new tricks than it is to unsuppress, well, suppression. Learning new and innovative things is always a blast, because you are stretching your mind, your body, etc. Unsuppressing oneself is infinitely more difficult because it means going back to the instant (or the many instances) of pain or negative feedback that caused you to suppress yourself to begin with. Sometimes we don't even remember that it's suppression, just thinking that it is habit, or "the way things are".

So . . . if there was a way to convince oneself that breaking old habits is the same thing as learning new tricks . . .